Icy cold ocean, spiky urchins, salty waves, bright spring sun, soaring cliffside views, pink and white striped towels, softly curved beach umbrellas, and oddly shaped lemons bobbing in the wind…this is Palazzo Avino, Ravello.

Venturing through a vineyard provides invaluable insights that simply cannot be provided solely by book knowledge. While this is certainly true of any great wine regions on the planet, it became ever more apparent to me during my last trip to the Cinque Terre.